Originally located on Eleventh and Green Streets in Louisville, the Kentucky Infirmary for Women and Children was chartered by the Legislature in 1876. The three-story, brick building was formally opened on May 22, 1876. The articles provided for a Board of Regents, a total of five in number; a Board of Lady Visitors, a total of thirty in number; and a full medical, surgical, and dental staff. The idea of a noble institution for destitute women and children was the brainchild of Dr. G. W. Griffiths. Dr. Griffiths was noted as saying, “The idea was suggested to [me] by the many cases of destitution among the women and children of [my] patients, who lacked means to secure proper medical and other attention.” A charter was drawn up and submitted to Dr. B. F. Grant, B. F. Avery, Col. Edward Badger, and Rev. Dr. Jones. Minor changes were made and the charter was sent to the Legislature where it was officially incorporated in March of 1876. Dr. Jones, B. F. Avery, Edward Badger and Dr. Griffiths were Directors.

The infirmary was supported at all times by voluntary subscriptions. A novel “Hospital Sunday,” took place when services of an appropriate nature were held in various churches throughout the city and state; the first being held at the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church. In its first year of operation, the Infirmary served more than 1,900 patients, “gratuitously,” with “diseases peculiar to women and children.” Any “poor” family in any county of the Commonwealth with a boy, girl or mother were served and cared for. There were approximately eight lead physicians who volunteered their services for free. Women and children were accepted as patients only with the exception of communicable diseases.

Recapitulation

The Kentucky Infirmary for Women and Children, chartered by the State of Kentucky, is the first women’s hospital established south of the Ohio river, and the only charitable institution in the city of Louisville which [received] patients from the State at large.
The charity, or public, wards [were] open only to females suffering from diseases peculiar to their sex, maimed and deformed children.
The Foundling Department [was] open to abandoned infants.
The Dispensary, or out-door, Department [was] open daily for the treatment of all sick and women children free.
The private, or pay, department [was] fitted up for the accommodation of women and children suffering from all manner of non-contagious diseases, and for invalids, convalescents, etc.
All private, or pay patients, [could] select any physician they desired.
A Brief Look at Patients and Their Treatments During the First Year
A twenty-year-old epileptic girl who suffered a fracture of the skull was treated at the Infirmary. The depressed bone was removed by trephining. The patient made a good recovery from the operation, and when discharged, the frequency and duration of the attacks were mitigated, with a prospect of full recovery.
A patient, from the State, was cured of contracted and anchylosed knee.
Four patients were relieved of spinal curvature.
One uterine polypus was removed from a patient.
Two patients were relieved of hip-joint disease.
A bright little waif girl, eighteen months old, was brought to the infirmary sick, by a strange woman; she fully recovered and “won the affection of the inmates and visitors.”

The First Annual Report

Number of women treated in the Dispensary (or out-door) Department: 920
Number of Children treated in the Dispensary (or out-door) Department: 525
Number treated for diseases of the Eye, Ear, or Throat: 327
Number of Infirmary patients: 120
Number of children born in-house: 11

Total number of case: 1,903

The number of prescriptions gratuitously filled in the drug room was: 2,000

Inaugural Officers of the Infirmary

Board of Regents

B. F. Avery – President
Hon. Ed. Badger – Vice President
Rev. J. Hones, D.D. – Secretary and Treasurer
B. F. Grant, M.D.
Geo. W. Griffiths, M.D.
Chas. A. Lehmann – Assistant Secretary

Honorary Members

Dr. T. S. Bell
Dr. R. C. Hewett
Dr. L. P. Yandell, Sr.
Dr. David Cummins

Board of Lady Visitors

Mrs. B. F. Avery – President
Mrs. S. J. Look – Vice President
Mrs. J. Jones – Secretary and Treasurer

Medical Staff

Dr. David Cummins – Orthopedic and General Surgery
Dr. B. F. Grant – Diseases of Women and Children
Dr. Geo. W. Griffiths – Diseases of Women and Children
Dr. Richard C. Brandies – Diseases of the Eye, Ear, and Throat
Dr. Ely McClellan – Pelvic Surgery
Dr. Samuel Brandies – Surgeon Accoucheur

A Brief Ending

The aims of the Infirmary were to relieve, free of charge, such of suffering humanity as may come under its regulations. Though the Infirmary was a “landmark on Eleventh and Green Streets,” the resulting subscription-based funding method as well as a lack of an endowment left little else to do but shut down. The proliferation of other area general hospitals offering specialty women and children services also contributed to this. In the summer of 1883, the Kentucky Women and Children’s Infirmary proposed its discontinuance and shut down services.

Contributed by Shawn Logan | contact@kyhi.org

⁘ Works Cited ⁘

The Weekly Kentucky Yeoman, Frankfort, Kentucky, 18 September 1877
The Tri-Weekly Kentucky Yeoman, Frankfort, Kentucky, 10 May 1879
The Owensboro Messenger, Owensboro, Kentucky, 23 August 1881
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, 16 June 1883

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